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When Bird Meets Plane, Air Force Takes Action

It studies spatters to avoid collisions

By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 4, 2008 5:28 PM CST

(Newser) – When a bird smacks into a military plane, it is not a pretty picture, neither for bird nor plane. It is, however, a serious, if messy, problem, and one that jeopardizes the safety of pilots and some very expensive Air Force hardware. The Wall Street Journal visits a base in Afghanistan and provides a glimpse of how the Air Force is fighting back—a process that involves methodically scraping up bird remains and shipping them to the Smithsonian.

"It's not as glamorous a job as you might imagine," says one unlucky colonel. The idea is to better track which birds fly when, and then have pilots do their darndest to avoid them. Researchers maintain an encyclopedic database of birds that zigged when they should have zagged and feed the data to the military. The colonel says the information helps determine flight schedules—but adds that ornithological caution must be thrown to the wind if battle calls.

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"It's not as glamorous a job as you might imagine," said one 38 year old Lt. Col. of his bird scraping duties. The bagged specimens are sent to the Smithsonian after a collision for identification. (KRT Photos)

F-15 In Flight. One pilot recalled his 550 mph collision with a vulture over Nevada, saying, "I just saw a black bird...things go by pretty fast." (Getty Images)

A member of the United States Air Force prepares a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle jet for takeoff at Nellis Air Force Base. The duties of a flight safety officer include, among other things, scraping off mutilated... (Getty Images)

A flock of Canada geese prepares to land on the Chagrin River in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007. At 550 miles an hour, a collision with a goose can do grievous harm to a two-man flight crew.... (Associated Press)

Preparations are made on the F-15E before take off. (Getty Images)

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Fighter jet taken down by a bird during take off (skyfender (YouTube))

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When Bird Meets Plane, Air Force Takes Action